DATE LINES / News, notes and updates from the Bay Area arts and culture scene

Joshua Kosman, Robert Hurwitt

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Opera singer contest

This week, Opera San Jose will introduce the first annual Irene Dalis Vocal Competition, in which 10 young operatic hopefuls compete for a total of $42,000 in cash prizes.

Named for the company's founder and general director, the competition -- which is presented in association with Arts Management Services of San Francisco -- will feature prizes awarded by both the professional judges and the audience.

The competition is at 7 p.m. Friday at the California Theatre, 345 S. First St., San Jose. Tickets are $50, or $75 with admission to the post-performance reception. Call (408) 437-4450 or go to www.operasj.org.

Festival Opera's 2007 season will include the West Coast premiere of "Our Town," composer Ned Rorem's 2006 operatic version of the Thornton Wilder stage classic. The opera, with a libretto by poet J.D. McClatchy, was introduced last year at Indiana University.

The fourth annual Another Hole in the Head Film Festival offers a series of horrifying film visions at the Roxie, beginning Friday and running through June 14. The Roxie will also be screening SF IndieFest: Gets Animated, which includes independent animation and studio rarities.

Another Hole opens with the world premiere of Simon Cathcart's "Stagknight," in which a paintball team sets out for a party in the woods where it encounters a bloodthirsty medieval knight. The festival concludes with "Unearthed," directed by Matthew Leutwyler, about a hideous monster unleashed from the New Mexico desert. Both directors will be present at these screenings.

An especially attractive offering this year is a live, stage version of George Romero's zombie classic "Night of the Living Dead," presented by HoleHead and the Primitive Screwheads, running at the HoldHead Playhouse, 1333 Indiana St. That's nightly at 8 from June 13-23.

Among highlights of the animation festival are the U.S. premiere of Jo Beom-jin's "Aachi & Ssipak," a provocative cyberpunk tale described as a cross between "Akira" and Tarantino, and film archivist Dennis Nyback's "Bad Bugs Bunny," a compilation of "cruel and ill-mannered Warner Bros. cartoons."

TheatreFirst is homeless once more. The 15-year-old East Bay company has lost its lease on the Old Oakland Theatre space where it's been fairly comfortably ensconced for two years -- just after closing the last show of its season, a rare staging of John Arden's "Serjeant Musgrave's Dance." "Musgrave" closed Sunday. The company has to abandon its home by Friday to make way for a shoe store.

"We are not going away," Artistic Director Clive Chafer promises. "But we will be on hiatus until we can find a new space." Anyone who knows of something suitable in downtown Oakland, he adds -- 2,500 to 4,000 square feet -- should let him know.

The situation may be unwelcome, but it's not exactly unfamiliar for the small company that's made its name with intriguing, rarely seen plays from an international repertoire. The company does plan to go ahead with staging its week of one-acts in the ongoing Suzan-Lori Parks "365 Days/365 Plays" project, June 11-17. Go to www.theatrefirst.com for details.

-- Robert Hurwitt

'High School Musical'

Auditions for the first local production of Disney's smash hit "High School Musical" have been announced. Ray of Light Theatre, the young community theater dedicated to staging low-cost, diverse musicals, is among the first West Coast companies to secure rights to the Emmy and Billboard award winner, and is looking for actors ages 12-25 for the chorus and principal roles (plus two other adults, one male, one female).

Open auditions begin at 10 a.m. June 10 and 16 (callbacks June 17) at co-producer San Francisco School of Arts theater (555 Portola Drive). No appointments necessary; bring headshot or a recent photo and prepare 16 bars of a pop song (but not a song from the show). Rehearsals begin in late August, under director Paul Plain, and the show runs Sept. 20-Oct. 7.